Tale Of The Travelling Wedding Dresses

This month's topic of Wedding Tales is so timely !  No, not because I'm getting married (again). I'm not. But because the current theme for a writing challenge I'm involved with is Wedding Dress so my mind has already been on all things white and lacy.

My own wedding dress was made by my mum, so held an extra special place in my heart. She was a dressmaker and I didn't even own a 'bought' dress until I was 18 and working. I was conscious of the fact that our budget wasn't great so I couldn't go overboard with fabric choice. I did pour over wedding magazines (so much a part of the excitement and anticipation of a wedding) and found gorgeous lace dress (think Grace Kelly and Kate Middleton) with long sleeves and a high neck. Detailed Guipiure lace (very trendy back in the 70s) was out of the question, but the simper lace we found was pretty and inexpensive. The dress in the mag had a really wide skirt and train and we just couldn't afford such magnificence, but the bodice had the look I wanted and I was thrilled with the result.

My home-made wedding dress fitted in perfectly with out home wedding reception in a small marquis in mum's back yard and catered for by a friend. Nothing grand or fancy, but personal and we were able to party late into the night rather than being ejected from a formal venue before midnight. she also made the bridesmaid's dresses and their posies were purple Bougainvillia from her garden.

As is the fate of most wedding dresses, mine was then packed away carefully with the thought that perhaps if I had a daughter, she might like to wear it or at least use it somehow. But before my daughter came along, I had the opportunity to decide whether to hold onto it, or give it to someone in need.

My heritage is Latvian and at the time (1980s) my parents' homeland was still under Russian rule. Life in Latvia was pretty grim with low wages and very little in the way of luxuries, let alone pretty fabric or modern wedding dresses. A friend of my mum's niece was getting married and didn't have the means or access to have something lovely to wear on her special day, so would I consider sending her mine?

I weighed up the options. I might have a daughter. She might or might not be interested in my wedding dress 20+ years into the future. The dress might or might not fit her. Even back then I wasn't someone who held huge sentimental value to 'things' (I have photos and memories) so it wasn't a difficult decision to make and my dress winged its way to Latvia where I knew at least one bride (but probably more) would enjoy wearing it.

There were some remnants of fabric left from my dress and my darling mum made me a very

lovely long-sleeved, v-neck blouse with a front and sleeve ruffle (it was the 80s remember!) from which I got a lot of wear. Also, when my daughter did eventually come along, there was another small remnant of my wedding dress which went into the yoke of her christening dress which mum also made.

Just as well I didn't hang onto my dress because 30+ years down the track, my daughter still hasn't walked down the aisle so the dress would still be languishing in the wardrobe - but I still have the christening dress so maybe she'll be able to make use of that. Maybe not as fancy as the royal family's heirloom christening robe, but a little piece of my special day that can stay in the family.

I haven't written an actual wedding into any of my romances, but I'm enjoying crafting some flash fiction for the writing challenge about another special wedding dress.

Catch up with all Andra's current writing news on her website - andraashe.com